Clayton, South Dakota is a small rural town with a population of about 600 people. It is a very tight-knit community where everyone knows and looks out for one another. Politically, the town leans heavily toward conservative values and supports candidates that share those same beliefs. The local government mostly focuses on issues that directly affect the local population such as infrastructure improvements, road maintenance, and public safety initiatives. Most residents are content to go about their daily lives without getting too involved in the political scene. However, they take pride in casting their vote during each election cycle in an effort to ensure their voice is heard.
The political climate in Clayton, SD is very conservative.
Hutchinson County, SD is very conservative. In Hutchinson County, SD 20.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 78.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hutchinson county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 78.2% to 20.2%.
Hutchinson county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Clayton, SD is very conservative.
Hutchinson County, South Dakota is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Clayton, South Dakota: R R R R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Clayton, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 44 contributions totaling $2,161 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $49 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 79 contributions totaling $27,357 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $346 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)